Angiogenesis and Cancer

Head and neck cancer survival rates improved, on average, about 10% after the introduction of traditional chemotherapies and radiotherapies during the last century. Survival rates have improved little since then and for many head and neck cancers five year survival figures remains below 40%. I am committed to studying angiogenesis as it relates to cancer research, to better understanding tumor microenvironments, and toward the development of more effective anti-cancer drugs.

My laboratory is focused on the elucidation of novel cancer angiogenesis-related pathways and ultimately on development of anti-angiogenesis therapies that may effectively target head and neck cancers. These studies use a variety of molecular and proteomic approaches to understand the response of endothelial cells to their environment with the ultimate aim of examining the cell signaling pathways involved. We further seek to discover and develop novel anti-angiogenic, anti-cancer drugs with particular efficacy in head and neck cancer.